THE MORGUE WAS cold and smelled of disinfectant and death. Chris looked up from the mutilated body with a grim expression, but no one would expect anything less.

“I don’t have the DNA or dental comparisons back just yet, but I did put a rush on them,” he informed us.

“Can you see if she has the name Jayden tattooed on her right wrist?” Marisol asked him.

He gestured to her arm and explained, “She doesn’t have any tattoos or identifying birthmarks on her at all. I already checked.”

“What about sexual assault?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“No, there was no evidence of trauma, and I did a swab to check for necrophilia, but it came up empty,” he replied, and the idea made me cringe. “I didn’t find prints or foreign hairs on her for trace either. He was very careful.”

I got to thinking about something I’d read in an FBI forensics manual. “Killers who use knives usually cut themselves in the process, so did you swab for foreign blood cells?”

He smiled. “I’m glad you know that, and yes, I collected swabs. The crime lab is processing them.”

Marisol had been staring at the body, but she finally looked up at me. “Well, let’s go tell Mr. Washington the good news. Since this isn’t Tamara Boyd, she could still be alive.”

I nodded in agreement. “Okay. I’m wondering if maybe she got cold feet about the wedding and just took off on her own.”

She frowned and nodded. “I hope that’s the case. I truly do.”

John Washington’s twisted face relaxed, and a gush of air escaped his mouth. “I’m so glad that it isn’t her, but where can she be?”

I gently asked him, “Mr. Washington, is there a chance she just needed a few days to herself, so she went somewhere? Is it possible that she has cold feet about your wedding?”

He slammed his fist on the table, causing our folders to displace. “No! She waited three years for me to propose, and when I did, she started making all the plans. We’re supposed to get married in three months, and she’s been nothing but excited about it. She has her dress, the catering, the flowers, and the cake all taken care of already”—he put his head in his hands and sobbed—“Jayden is going to be the ring bearer, and she loves him more than anything in this world, so I know she didn’t just take off.”

“I understand,” I calmly assured him. “We’ll notify the Missing Persons Division to keep looking for her. Is there any place she may have stopped off at before meeting her sister at the zoo?”

The distraught man wiped his wet eyes. “I don’t know. You’ll be better off to ask Dominique about that. She only told me about the zoo.”

I thanked him for his time and told him we’d be in touch once we found anything out. He agreed to go home to his son and wait for our call.

I spoke to Jamie Tinsley in Missing Persons and told him to question the sister and to get the search dogs back out in Forest Park. When I got back to my desk, Liam was on the phone with the M.E. When he hung up, he rubbed his hand over his jaw and told us something we didn’t want to hear.

“The identity of our victim has been established. She’s Larissa Ray from Shrewsbury, and she was reported missing by her husband two weeks ago. Chris says she had an empty digestive tract, and she exhibited signs of malnourishment. Some of the cuts are older than others, and there’s also burn marks on the soles of her feet. Cause of death is exsanguination. However long this jackoff had her, he was putting her through torture.”

Marisol raised an eyebrow at me. “Still glad you joined us?”

I leveled my gaze at her and slowly nodded. “Yeah. I want to catch this bastard.”